Earlier, I shared the story of Muhammad Aslam who, even after working so hard in his life was unable to achieve his goal of living his life as a successful person. Today, I had a discussion with Muhammad Yousaf, 80 years old man selling cleaning clothes on the street of a big market. I asked several questions about his life, let me share his story with you!
1) So tell us about your childhood, where were you born, how many siblings you had and what was your father's occupation?
I was born in Lahore in a poor family, my father had 12 children, 5 of them were girls and 7 boys. I was at number 6. My father was a peon in a public school. Due to poor financial situation of my family, I was forced to leave studies when I completed my grade 3 and started working in small shops. We all brothers used to work 12 hours a day, this helped my father to get extra money to feed all of us.
2) Okay, so what happened next?
My father died when I was 17 and mother too when I was 19. I also found a job as a peon in a government office. After doing that job for 3 years, I married. I was happy as I was able to meet all the expenses of my family and those were good days, you know, people were simple, there was no materialism, people used to help each other in the hour of need, so all went well.
3) So what went wrong in your life?
When Bhutto came into power in Pakistan, he cancelled all the government employees contracts and hired new people, so I was also forced to leave my job. My income wasn't in thousands at that time, so had no savings. So I went to Karachi and found a job there. However, I realized that this is not going to work, family in Karachi and me in Lahore and there was no one who could look after my children, so I came back to Lahore after three months.
After that, I found a contractor who hired me as a painter. I used to paint rich people's houses but the money I earned wasn't enough to feed my family. I had 3 daughters, one son and a wife, there were 6 people to feed with only one man who was earning. Time passed quickly and it became more difficult to survive in a city like Lahore.
Also, I had to bear one of the greatest loss of my life, my son died in an accident, he was the only hope in my life and I wanted him to become a successful person but I guess God's will wasn't there.
My daughters are married and now I only have to take care of my wife. She also had an accident 5 years ago and lost her one leg, so I am the only one who is earning.
4) How much do you need monthly for your wife's medicines and meet other expenses?
I have to pay house rent PKR 10,000/month, my wife's medicines cost around PKR 2,000 and adding all other expenses, I have to earn almost 20,000 to meet all these expenses. But it's very hard to do so, people now are rich and never care and buy from old poor people. Hardly 5 or 10 people use to buy from me everyday and from the last 10 or 12 years, I never earned enough to meet all my expenses.
5) So how do you manage to meet all the expenses if you don't earn much?
Some people in my area help me and my wife, a few people pay a percentage of my house's rent and there is a boy who buys me the medicines. I'm very thankful to them as they support and don't let me beg for money as other people do in this city!
6) What do you think what's the biggest mistake in your life you have done that you held responsible for your current situation?
I guess I never predicted the future well, when I was young, people were simple, honest and kind. There was no materialism, greediness or selfishness, people used to help each other and I thought the same would continue but I was wrong. Time passed quickly, people become rich and now our society gives more importance to the status rather than the character. I had some opportunities that I could have availed but yes, I failed. I put all of my hard work in the wrong direction and assumed that people would be there to help me if I needed but that wasn't the case. But this is life, I'm now in my 80's and waiting for my death, may be I get a peaceful life there!
Please resteem and share his life story with other people!
